


Hero

by Writing_Like_Ill_Die



Category: Dead by Daylight (Video Game)
Genre: Danny Johnson is His Own Warning, Drama & Romance, F/M, Murder Mystery, Obsession, Obsessive Behavior, Quick Burn, Stalking, Unreliable Narrator
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-14
Updated: 2020-11-14
Packaged: 2021-03-09 19:34:25
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,961
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27551611
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Writing_Like_Ill_Die/pseuds/Writing_Like_Ill_Die
Summary: It started as it ended, in the garden, surrounded by plants. A young woman crouching in the greenhouse, tenderly caring for plants. The devotion on her face, the soft pull of her lips, was the most beautiful thing that he’d ever seen.Snap.
Relationships: Danny "Jed Olsen" Johnson | The Ghost Face/Claudette Morel
Comments: 5
Kudos: 28





	Hero

Claudette turned at the sound of footsteps, and saw a man walking up to her. He was handsome, with wavy black hair and a serene smile. A camera was hung around his shoulders. He squatted next to her, watching ad her dark hands dig into darker earth.

“What kind of plants are those?” He asked, curious.

Claudette startled, surprised that he was so interested. But she stuttered our the scientific name, and then rattled off facts, getting more flustered as he watched her with rapture, as if he really was interested. His eyes were attentive, watching her every gesture and expression. It was... flattering.

“That’s pretty amazing... Say, I’m doing an article on the botany department for the university paper. You wouldn’t mind teaching me a little more, would you?” He smiled, soft and sheepish, taking out a notepad and pen.

Claudette felt her heart flutter. Someone was... interested in her. “Ah, of course!” Her eagerness to have someone to tell about all the greenhouse plants bordered on desperation, but fortunately it didn’t seem to ward off this guy.

She showed him all her personal projects, all her favorite plants, all their uses. She shows him everything, infodumps, and is supported by his eager questions. She never feels like he’s just letting her talk, like he’s humoring her; unlike everyone else she’s ever talked to, he responds to her passion with equal passion. It’s the best conversation she’s ever had, and it leaves her reeling, her heart beating hard.

But the sun is setting. It’s time she took the bus home. She tells him it was nice to meet him, wanting to see him again, but too nervous to ask. But this man, He smiles.

“It was nice to meet you too, but I never did introduce myself, did I? How rude of me. The name’s Danny Johnson, sweetheart.” He writes down something on his notepad and tears it off, handing it to her. It’s a phone number.

“Call me.” He gives a boyish, charming grin, doing the hand signal as well, all cheekiness and flirtations. Claudette melts.

“I will! Oh, and um, I’m Claudette!!” She says, breathless, eager, heart fluttering all over the place. He walks away, and gives a little wave as he reaches the door of the greenhouse. She gives a little wave back. Her cheeks hurt from smiling.

She gets home, and as soon as she does, she calls the number. She’s feeling awkward, not sure what to do. This handsome, amazing guy gave her his number, but is it still too soon to call?

“Hello, Claudette.” He coos as soon as the line picks up. She jumps a little surprised.

“Ah, how’d you know it was me?” She chuckles sheepishly.

“It’s more that I hoped it was you. I figured we hit it off pretty well, you know? Was hoping that I’d get a call from the pretty plant girl I met today.” His voice is super casual and playful, and it puts her at ease, sitting in an armchair in her home and toying with the telephone’s chord.

“I-I’m glad... I was afraid that you would think I was weird for calling so soon! I didn’t know if I should wait a week, or a few days, or— I dunno.” She’s breathless already, wiggling happily in her chair. “I’m just happy that you’re so happy to hear from me.”

“And I’m happy that you’re so eager to hear from me, sweetheart. I can’t stop thinking about our conversations today. I think you gave me a lot of good material. I was wondering... would you mind me coming back tomorrow? Taking some pictures of the flowers? Maybe a few of you, too, since you’re the most gorgeous thing in there.” He chuckled low and hearty, making Claudette swoon.

“O-of course. I’d love to see you.”

She was too occupied with the call to look out the window and see a camera clicking, capturing her beautiful expressions.

And so started a beautiful friendship. Every afternoon, they would be in the greenhouse together. Danny even helped her tend to the plants, his black leather gloves being perfectly suited to gardening. Every so often, he would snap a photo. He took quite a few of them, especially of her, but Claudette figured he needed variety. It was... nice, almost, having someone who thought your every action was worth recording. She didn’t think she was very pretty, but he protested it vehemently, thinking all her expressions were gorgeous.

For her newest project, she got new seeds to plant and nourish. Danny helped her plant them. There was something do tender about their gloved hands touching as they worked together to put a seed in the ground.

“I really love this, you know? Being able to plant something and watch it grow. Nourish it, care for it, make it bloom into something beautiful.” He told her, with a shy smile, as their hands overlapped over the seed of a Japanese spider lily. His cheek had a smear of dirt on it, and his wavy hair was disheveled from the humidity of the greenhouse, and yet he was still so handsome. Her heart bloomed as they shared the same breath, foreheads almost touching as she looked down at their hands.

“I was thinking the exact same thing.” She smiled.

His article came out, and it was front page. The title made her blush. ‘Genius Botanist Shares Amazing Findings’. He was a wonderful writer, that was for sure. He made her nerdy talk sound so amazing, made people care about what she had to say.

That’s when she started to meet him outside of the greenhouse. They seemed to run into each other all the time, and it wasn’t long before she started hoping to see him. Sometimes she’d be out and about and see him nearby. It made her giggle, knowing he was trying to surprise her. She played the fool, letting him come to her. They arranged times to see each other outside the greenhouse, to talk. They met in diners, and Claudette, with delight, got to fulfill her dream of sharing a milkshake with someone. They talked about anything and everything. Sometimes it was like they could read each other’s minds, they were so in sync. It was wonderful, the togetherness. She happily referred to him as her best friend. Danny called her his girl. Elbows linked, like in all the fairy tales, he started to escort her everywhere.

It was a blessing, considering what happened next.

A murder. It was another botany student, and the method of murder was unknown. Apparently the victim had been all alone, and the murderer had struck, not far from her greenhouse. She knew instantly that if it weren’t for Danny escorting her that that body might have been hers. The moment she realized that, she promptly had a panic attack. Danny scooped her into his arms, and Claudette cried into the dark leather of his jacket collar until she felt better.

Danny cupped her cheeks, and made her a promise. “He’s not going to hurt you. I won’t let him.” He told her firmly, loyally, and she melted.

What she said was ‘Thank you.’ What she wanted to say was ‘I think I’m in love with you.’

Danny was recruited to report the murder, and he did a damn good job. He didn’t leave out a single detail. He even figured out that the cause of death was poison.

But the killer wasn’t done. Another death occurred, same method, but now with a message. ‘Keep your nose out of my business, reporter’ was found on a bloody sheet of paper by the body. Most would have stopped by then. But Danny was brave. He reported that murder too, and insisted that he would get to the bottom of these mysteries. Danny made himself a target, a victim, all in the name of justice.

They hung out in the greenhouse even more. Danny wanted to stop these murders, and Claudette did too. She tested out different treatments, trying to find the perfect antidote. Even in the seriousness, he was still so tender, keeping her nerves at bay. In the dim lights of the greenhouse, he pressed his forehead to hers, and told her that she was brilliant, that she could do this.

“You’re the most amazing woman I met, and you are going to solve this mystery, I promise. You’re going to save this town, because you are a goddess among humans, and you can do anything. Do you trust me?” He hotly murmured into her hair in the dark night, as they hugged, tight and intimate, after another threatening note was found, targeted at Danny.

“With my life.” She responded without hesitation. What she wanted to say was that she loved him.

Then she found him in the greenhouse the next day, with poison smeared on his lips. She screamed. And then she acted on instinct. She checked his pulse. Still alive. With speed she wasn’t aware of, she gathered her tools, and she made the antidote she had been working on. The one she was sure would work, but hadn’t yet tested on a person. The one that Danny was sure would work. She leaned over him, and she applied the antidote.

It worked. Danny woke up later in a hospital room, fully cured. The doctors told him what he was already sure of. Claudette had saved him, and brought him here to be stabilized. If it wasn’t for her, he’d be dead. As soon as Claudette came in, he tried to scramble out of bed to her, and she ran to him, their arms wrapping around each other like they were two puzzle pieces that fit together just right.

Finally, Claudette told him she loved him.

After he was released, Danny went to work with fervor. The next article brought great praise to Claudette, with a great title that caused the whole town to love her: Brilliant Hero Finds Antidote to Poisoning Spree. Three days later, they found the killer. He pretended to be confused, that he didn’t know how he’d gotten into the costume and ended up in the greenhouse. But the story was obvious.

Danny had gotten a shot of the ghostface killer, their culprit, and tracked him down to the greenhouse. Claudette found the culprit slumped over her valerian root, apparently having been knocked out by their scent, and as soon as he roused, she knocked him back out again with a choice hit to the head with a shovel. Danny ran in, fearing another murder, and instead caught a picture of Claudette restraining the unconscious Ghostface killer.

Another article praised her again, calling her a true Hero, and was full of Danny praising her. It made her blush when she read it. Her story even made it to national news. She was widely acclaimed, the hero of the tale. And Danny was happy to document it all.

In the following winter, a year after they met, Danny asked for her hand in marriage. They were married in the spring, just like Claudette always wanted, and moved out of their tiny Canadian town. He wanted to follow the next story, and she wanted to help him. Wherever they went, a story seemed to already be cropping up. Danny had a knack for finding stories before anyone, and once he did, it was time to pack up her plants into his van and go on a roadtrip to their next story. The stories varied, as did the culprits, but one thing was for sure. Claudette always ended up the hero.

And Danny was the loyal author who brought her heroics to life, whether his sweetheart knew it or not.

**Author's Note:**

> don’t tell me this isn’t the kinda convoluted shit this bastard would pull


End file.
